Attaining the Case File

"Wait, what?" I scoffed, in disbelief. No way Harry Styles was missing! Paparazzi follow him around everywhere, he cannot just 'disappear' all of a sudden.

Unless he wanted to.

But that is extremely unlikely. He is a billionaire, has all girls at his feet, can any damn thing in the world he wants. He must have been ransomed or kidnapped by someone.

Captain Prescott replied through his thin lips, "Yes, Ms. Jefferson, it seems that he has been kidnapped or something of the sort. Here are all of his last known sightings for the past two weeks. If that isn't enough I will give you access to the rest of his records. We need to find him as soon as possible.

"Once you get a lead let me know. Scotland Yard will be in touch with you tomorrow morning, so I suggest you get some rest before the big day."

I nodded, a bit hazed at the information. Captain Prescott handed me the case file, so I took it gently. Getting up to leave, I asked, "What aid his management going to say when people start noticing he isn't out and about as much?"

"You can handle that tomorrow, as they will also be in touch with you. Probably Simon Cowell personally."

I nodded again, not sure how to respond, so I said a simple goodbye and was on my way home.

By the time I reached my apartment in the Beverly Grove district, it was nearly ten. It is home to most of the shopping areas and fashion icons of Los Angeles, and about half of the police force. My apartment complex alone had three of us living there - the detective (me), one of the K-9 officers and her german shepherd, and a defense lawyer. It was pretty cool. We always hung out since we were all ladies, so we would have girls' nights in every once in a while.

The defense lawyer is Kayla, who is the sweetest person you know until you go against her in court. Jeez, that lady would scare the living daylights out of me. But she is an otherwise nice person to talk to and she gives great advice on anything and everything.

Then there is Eden, the K-9 officer. She's a fierce Chilean, let me tell you that. She was born in Chile with pure roots, and her family moved here for her to go to good school. Eden is pretty much my best friend. We worked together on a couple of cases earlier this year when we both got hired. Her dog, Axel, is super cute and is really playful when off duty, and when Eden went on nights out I dog-sat Axel. 

By nights out, I mean hooking up with guys. Eden goes out to all of the high end clubs and gets with famous people, making them drop dead at her feet with her gorgeous looks. And nobody blames them - with her almond shaped deep brown eyes and silky, long brown-nearly-black hair she could attract anyone. 

My fatigue caused me to stumble into my room, barely dumping my shoulder bag on the ground next to the door before falling onto the ever-so-comfy couch. I already ate some ramen noodles at work, so I was good for dinner. After nearly peeling myself off the couch, I trudged into my bedroom, not even bothering to get changed into pajamas.

Next thing I knew, my phone was buzzing and going off with my 'Wolves' ringtone like crazy at seven in the morning. Yes, I do like One Direction, but I do not stalk them or anything (even though I have all of the sources to).

"Hello?" I groggily answered, peeling a lock of hair out of my mouth. 

"Yes, good morning, is this Callista Jefferson?" A very familiar voice asked. The one and only Simon Cowell. 

I stuttered out, "Y-yes, sir, that is me," out of politeness I asked, "Who is calling?"

"Simon Cowell. I believe you have been given the case to find one of my dear friends, Harry Styles?" He sternly replied. I am not surprised - one of his most prized possessions just got wiped off the face of the earth.

"Yes."

"Have you got any leads?" Simon pressed on.

I thought about the case... I was given it last night! How is it expected for me to find Harry overnight? 

I gave a white lie, "Uh, yeah. I just need some more information about where he lives, who he usually invites over if you know that."

Simon huffed impatiently, "Well, he likes to hang out with his bandmates and he sometimes invites local fans over." 

"Look, sir, it may take me a while to get a good  lead. I will let you know if there are any updates," I said annoyed. Who does he expect, me to be Sherlock Holmes?

We shortly ended the conversation, agreeing that I would be calling with any updates. While speaking I got ready, so I was already wearing my usual white blouse with a blazer and my badge clipped onto my waistband. I also put away a little pocket notebook in case I found out something in a hurry.

You know when you see television shows like NCIS and Criminal Minds and officers look really badass with cool police uniforms and their badges?

Well in reality only the officers on duty or patrolling wear those. It is one of the secrets of the police force. Most of us just wear normal, casual clothes with our badges for identification. 

I climbed into my little yellow Fiat whom I nicknamed Luigi after the character from the movie Cars. Yes, typical, I know, but it reminded me of my little sister.

My sister, Nikki, was 10 years younger than me. She had neuroblastoma at the age of five, and died when she was seven. Nikki loved the movie Cars so much, her dream was to meet Owen Wilson (who voiced Lightning McQueen) and drive a car with him. Thankfully the Make-a-Wish Foundation was kind enough to make this come true, and she lived her dream. We got to go to Disney World where we had a private meeting with him and then got to go-kart with him. 

That was the happiest I ever saw my baby sister. He held her small, frail body in the picture next to my bed, standing in from of the replica of Lighting McQueen. She had the widest grin on her face, with two missing teeth. Sometimes I would give up anything just to spend five more minutes with her. 

Snapping out of my memories, I drove to work and stopped for Starbucks on the way. While standing in line, I happened to overhear a conversation.

"It's so weird, Harry always posts on Twitter at least once a week. He hasn't since more than a week ago," a slightly shrill female voice said in front of me. It was the barista, talking to her co-worker who was operating the cash register. Was this about Harry Styles?

The cashier huffed and replied, "I bet Modest is up to something again. They need to stop controlling his life. Like, One Direction won't come back if they aren't treated good." The incorrect grammar in her sentence made me want to cringe. But at the same time, this confirmed that they were talking about the person I was looking for.

It was now my turn to go up to the cashier, so I decided to do some pre-investigating. "Hey, I want a tall vanilla frappe with two pumps of hazelnut please and a tall hot caramel espresso." I realized that Eden will definitely need caffeine after I tell her that we are going to find the missing member of her current favourite band.

The girl charged my card and I got the courage to make the small talk. "So, were you just talking about Harry Styles?"

She nodded vigorously, "Yeah! He would never leave that long of a time between posts. The last time anyone saw him was a week ago out near the beach with some creepy guy, but I mean we all know Harry probably associates with that type of person."

I nodded and took out my pocketbook to take notes quickly. She sneered, scrunching her nose, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," I dismissed, putting it back in my pocket once I finished writing down what the girl had just said.

I grabbed the two cups and left, rushing to the headquarters. Nearly getting into an accident, I ran upstairs to my cubicle that I shared with Eden on days she worked in, without Axel. I was overjoyed to see her already sitting in her padded office chair, typing away on her iMac. 

"Hiya Cal," she greeted me without even glancing at me. I placed the cup of coffee on her desk and she drew a sharp breath. "Oh no, that means we got a new case," she mumbled, curling her fingers around the warm to-go cup. I nodded.

I returned the sigh and explained what we had to do. She was already bouncing up and down in her chair, excited to get to work. I opened up the case file for the first time and scanned the information.

Name: Harry Styles Birth Date: 2-1-94

Nationality: English Occupation: Singer/Singwriter, member of One Direction

Gender: Male 

Last Seen: On Topanga Beach with suspicious figure identified as male.

Notes: FBI and Scotland Yard will be in touch. Must find ASAP due to popularity.

Attached at the top was a profile photo of the famed man with his long hair waving around his face and all of his arm tattoos showing. His green eyes glistened from the many cameras taking shots of him constantly. He looked content and collected at the time, seeing as this was taken when he just arrived back in Los Angeles in January. Something must have happened since then.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat. I whipped my head around swiftly to reveal Captain Prescott and another man standing behind him, who looked very professional, and scary I must admit.

Captain introduced, "Detective Jefferson, this is Rick Williams. He'll be working with you from Scotland Yard's perspective." I stood up to shake Rick's hand. He squeezed my hand so hard, it almost felt like he was trying to break it. I bit my lip in confusion. He also had a stoic face, not showing any emotion. Good for an agent.

We had a brief conversation concerning that I will let him know if I find anything, and he assured me "though you are in charge of this investigation, we are involved too." Did he really think I would keep it all to myself and ask for no help? Well, he's never met me. I ask for help all the time, even driving to the local grocery store. 

Eden rested her chin on my shoulder, grunting, "Why are they always so hot?"

I rolled my eyes and sat back down, joking, "Wipe the drool off your chin, hon."

I got back to my sources, looking for camera footage with facial recognition of Harry Styles, or at least figures similar to him.

Clicking through footage for the past week, there was nothing. Zilch. Until I scrolled past a man's body frame and long, wispy hair. I tapped on the icon, watching the footage:

"No, I told you I don't want to do it. Leave me alone," Harry's deep voice said, him waving his arms up in frustration. 

The video had no sound, so I saved to my computer (which has software which reads lips) and waved over Eden. "Look at this closely," I told her. The other man in the picture advanced toward Harry.

The man growled, "You will obey me, or I will force you to." Harry backed away towards a wall, cornered. He was wearing a hoodie, so his face was hidden with shadows. he brought his hands up to Harry's shirt's collar and grabbed him. He leaned in close, and we could no longer read the lip movement, except for Harry's. 

"Do I know you? Please, I'll give you money, just let me go," Harry pleaded, his facial expression turning to fear.

The hooded man released an ice cold laugh, "Well, let's just say you don't know me, but I know you. Meet me on Topanga Beach tomorrow night or face the consequences." He ran off in the other direction and Harry slumped against the wall, burying his face in his hands.

The footage was from a garage in West Los Angeles from the night before he disappeared. Eden let out a sigh, "That was some intense shit."

I giggled nervously, "Yeah, but that gives us a little more info. Not much, but some. But the real problem here is that the suspect is facing away, so I can't screen grab his face."

"Could you try to get more footage from the same garage building and find his car or where he went after? If you get a license plate or location we can try to take Axel to sniff around," Eden suggested. I nodded in agreement. 

"Time to hunt for more security footage," I sighed.

Thank you for reading! Slow updates are going to be a thing... Apologies ahead of time. Please comment and vote :)

All the love,

Juliet